Word: foamed
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...shuttle program [Aug. 8]. Over the years I have found it difficult to support NASA, a government operation that I believe is basically a welfare program for aeronautical engineers. After a hiatus of 2 1/2 years, NASA engineers launched the Discovery shuttle and encountered the same problem?falling insulation foam from the external fuel tank during lift-off?that doomed the previous shuttle, the Columbia, in 2003. NASA's engineers, managers and technicians should refund to the government the full amount of their salaries and benefits for the past 2 1/2 years. Rod Rawson Miami...
...space-shuttle program [Aug. 8]. Over the years I have found it difficult to support NASA, a government operation that I believe is basically a welfare program for aeronautical engineers. After a hiatus of 2½ years, NASA engineers launched the Discovery shuttle and encountered the same problem--falling insulation foam from the external fuel tank during lift-off--that doomed the previous shuttle, the Columbia, in 2003. NASA's engineers, managers and technicians should refund to the government the full amount of their salaries and benefits for the past 2½ years...
...that the Discovery shuttle is safely back on Earth, I hope you will give NASA the credit it is due instead of bashing the agency about a few chunks of foam. The camera that allowed technicians to see the insulation foam provided information about damage that was assessed and fixed. I believe NASA got it right. After all, the International Space Station has been restocked, the new safety systems (cameras, sensors, etc.) worked perfectly, and all seven American astronauts are back on solid ground having been confident that the agency had the ability to get them home safely...
...high degree of safety is a direct result of the new ability to examine the shuttle in flight with remote cameras. And while the dislodged foam caused much consternation at the space agency, Discovery had the least loss of foam when compared to the other shuttle launches. Still, the first-ever space walk to the underside of the shuttle was deemed necessary to pull cloth from between tiles, again to err on the side of caution. And despite the smaller amount of foam debris hits, NASA admits that the largest chunk to fall could have been equally disastrous...
...more apt to capture the imagination of the public that space flight has been known for. The Discovery flight was to retrieve two tons of garbage from a space station many often forget even exists. Now, NASA must ensure it can continue to secure the existing shuttle's foam coverage if it wants to continue flights through its planned 2010 retirement; it must also design a new manned orbitor and complete the space station-all while continuing to capture America's imagination...